A foregone conclusion

It was a foregone conclusion the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Ms. Fehmida Mirza would favor the PM Gilani by not sending the reference of his disqualification to the Election Commission. Last day, she did as expected. But there were a few amongst us in whose hearts a faint hope was still glimmering that the Speaker would act impartially and would author a splendid chapter in our checkered history by calling the spade a spade. The Speaker is so loyal to her party that she even stood by her party's stalwarts instead of her spouse Dr. Zulfikar Mirza when he rightly expressed his indignation against his party and whose membership was also finished. The Speaker's controversial decision has precipitated the Supreme Court's authority into the abyss of uncertainty. Ms. Fehmida has set a very poignant precedent and now every member of the parliament has been given the valentine to commit contempt of court or to ridicule it because the custodian of the lower house has now become the final authority to disqualify or not the one who is punished by the apex court. Time has come that it should be decided in unequivocal terms as to who actually is supreme, the Supreme Court of Pakistan or the Speaker of the National Assembly? By brushing aside the verdict of seven honorable judges of the highest court of the country, Ms. Fehmida has done a gargantuan disservice to the stature of the most venerable institution of our country. We will now see yet another legal battle full of chicaneries and circumlocutions when someone challenges the Speaker's controversial decision in apex court to salvage the battered ship of Yousaf Raza Gilani of Multan.